


Roleplaying for Dummies

by JDKoopa



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, F/M, Fluff, Mentioned Blue Lions Students (Fire Emblem), Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 16:24:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21497050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JDKoopa/pseuds/JDKoopa
Summary: A new semester is about to start in Garreg Mach University, and Byleth Eisner has been invited by a group of friends to join in their Dungeons and Dragons campaign.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Blue Lions Students, Glenn Fraldarius/Ingrid Brandl Galatea
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Roleplaying for Dummies

It was the last week of summer, and for the first time in her life, Byleth had invited some friends over to their house. 

“Byleth, you’re up early. Finally learning the importance of an early start?” Jeralt asked her, surprised to find his usually lethargic daughter awake at day break and moving around the kitchen.

“I invited some friends over to hang out before summer was over.” The girl said with a shy small smile. It was a rare expression for her stoic face, but she finally felt as if it fit her.

“Well look at you, making new friends already. I’ll help you get the house ready if you’d like, but I do have to run some errands today.” Jeralt offered her a smile of his own, proud to see her finally trying to be a teenager.

She nodded as a response. 

They spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the house, preparing for the visitors. At one point in the afternoon, Jeralt went out to buy some frozen pizzas. He offered to cook but Byleth turned him down, reminding him that he had his own errands to work on. By the time they were finished, the sun was setting in the horizon. 

“That about does it, room is all ready. When are they getting here?”

“They should be here in about an hour.”

“Perfect. I’ll be out of your way by then. I’m proud of you, kid. You’ve already made some new friends. Your mother would be so proud. I know it wasn’t easy moving around all the time, but we’re finally somewhere we can settle down. Enjoy yourself and make the most of it.”

"I'll be fine, dad." A soft pink tint found its way to her cheeks. "You should go finish your errands."

"Take care then, kid." Jeralt left to finish getting his paperwork together. He had to go to the university to speak with Dean Seteth about his appointment as the new coach at Gareg Mach. He dreaded this meeting, but it had to be done.

Alone at home, Byleth turned on the television to distract herself as she waited for her classmates. She tried to find a show to watch but could not focus. Every few minutes she would look at the door and back at her phone, hoping the time would pass faster. 

Then the doorbell rang. Byleth turned off the television and rushed to the front door. She tried to put on a smile and opened the door.

Outside were three of her classmates, but none were looking at the door.

"Felix, please just tell me what I did wrong." Said the blonde boy, worry written in his blue eyes. 

"You know what you did, boar." The dark haired boy responded trying to look anywhere but at Dimitri. Byleth did not know where the nickname originated, but it was something Felix had been calling the blonde for the few months she had known them. 

"I'm sorry, but I really don't. Can you please forgive me?" Dimitri held out his hand as if he wanted a handshake, but the other boy just swatted it away.

"Felix, can't you try to be nice for once?" Said Ingrid as she watched the scene, arms crossed and slightly irritated at the behavior of the dark haired boy. 

"Whatever." Felix said as he rolled his eyes and crossed his own arms. Byleth felt the tension rising from her classmates.

"Uhmm, hi guys." Byleth chimed in to draw their attention. The three turned to her, their faces holding shocked expressions as if they had forgotten they were waiting in front of her house.

"Byleth! Hello! Please excuse Felix, something happened earlier and...actually, never mind." Ingrid looked around a bit as if she were searching for a new topic. "I'm so happy we are finally doing this! I've been looking forward to it the whole summer." 

"Hello Byleth. I hope your summer has been pleasant." Dimitri said with a nervous smile on his lips. He stepped closer to her and held out one of his arms. He pulled her into a hug but quickly broke it as if he were embarrassed by the act. Scratching his hair, he added, "Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It felt nice," She gave a sheepish smile as she heard Ingrid chuckle and Felix mumble something that sounded like ‘stupid boar’. Byleth wondered if she had said something wrong. She tried to widen her smile as she motioned for the others to enter, “Well, let's go inside.” 

Byleth led her friends to the dining room, where she had prepared the table for their gaming night. Byleth sat at the head of the table. Dimitri and Ingrid took the two seats surrounding her, while Felix took the seat next to Ingrid to ensure he was as far from Dimitri as he could be. 

“I have some pizzas I’ll put in the oven when Sylvain gets here. I hope that’s fine.”

“Pizza is fine, though I’ve lost some of my appetite having to deal with this boar.” Felix glared at Dimitri for a second.

Dimitri sighed, “Felix, please. Let’s just move on. Byleth has been kind enough to invite us into her home, the least we can do is behave.” 

Felix just rolled his eyes as a response and turned to face away from the blonde. He then took out his phone and focused on it. 

Once it seemed the two boys were done, Ingrid started to take out various books and binders from her purse and organized them in front of her. She handed a book to Dimitri. And then she turned to Byleth “So how has the campaign writing been coming along for you? I know it can be hard to get everything together, so I was wondering if you needed any help.”

"Actually, some help would be much appreciated” Byleth said, letting out a sigh of relief. “This will actually be my first time as a dungeon master, and I didn’t get the opportunity to play growing up so I’m pretty new to the entire experience.”

“Oh, well in that case, just one second. I was so excited for tonight I prepared a little something. I know it is in here somewhere… Ah, here it is” After arranging it all neatly in front of her, she handed a smaller binder to Byleth, who was surprised by how heavy it was.

Byleth looked over the sheets. They were full of maps, diagrams, and notes about possible characters that the group may meet. She felt a bit overwhelmed at how much information the other girl had tried to include in the papers. However, before she could ask Ingrid anything, the doorbell rang. 

“That must be Sylvain,” Dimitri said, standing up. “I can get it.”

“I’ll go too,” Ingrid joined in and started to follow Dimitri to the door.

“I guess I’ll go get the oven ready then.” Byleth said, but she was unsure if anyone heard her. She went to the kitchen where Jeralt had left a list of detailed instructions on how to heat the pizzas. Following his list, she prepared the oven and took the pizzas out of the fridge. As she worked, she heard a loud new voice in the living room. 

When Byleth left the kitchen, she saw the two blondes were leading a red-headed man into the dining room. She had seen enough pictures of him to know that this was Sylvain Jose Gautier, the older member of this quartet who had spent the last year traveling around the world before going to university. 

“Hey, you must be Byleth!” He said with a wink. 

“And you are Sylvain, no?” 

“The one and only,” He smirked and added, “Dimitri was right, you are pretty cute. Wanna go out for dinner sometime?”

“Sylvain!” Dimitri yelled as his face became bright red.

"Calm down, calm down. It was just a joke." Sylvain grimaced. "Unless…" and before he could continue Ingrid began to pull him to the dining room. 

They went to the dining room where Felix was still sitting in his chair. "You're late."

"Aww no special greeting for your best friend who was away for a year? Bet you missed me." Sylvain joked as he sat across from Felix.

"Just shut up." Felix said, looking away as if he did not want to admit there was some truth in the other's statement.

Once everyone was seated, Byleth felt it was time to start. “We will be starting our journey in a small village in the middle of a large continent. This village is unimportant, it is close to a monastery which is the religious center of the continent. Recently the village has been having issues with bandits. Does anyone have any questions?” 

She looked around the room to make sure everyone was still paying attention. Ingrid and Dimitri nodded at her to continue. “Alright we should introduce characters now. Ingrid why don’t you go first?”

Ingrid shuffled through her binders to take out a stack of papers. “My character, Seirosia, is a lawful-good, high-elf paladin. She strives to better the lives of the people by upholding the laws placed upon them and spending her time working alongside them. Seirosia always does her best to obey orders, but first and foremost she is a defender of those in need. She was born into an ancient noble house of elves which had fallen from power due to misfortune. But she hopes that with her brave and honorable deeds she can restore her family’s good name while doing what she believes is her calling. She is in the village because she heard about the recent problems with the bandits and wants to aid them.” 

Ingrid then procured a beautiful portrait of an elven woman in a short skirt carrying a massive sword and showed it to the others.

“Well, she doesn’t look half bad.” Sylvian said with a laugh which earned him a glare from Ingrid. He then pointed at the rest of the papers sitting in front of her, “Looks like you even wrote yourself a bit of a backstory there, huh?” 

“Yes, I wanted to be prepared in case anyone questioned where she came from or anything along those lines, so I prepared a somewhat extensive history for her. I hope you have at least something prepared, Sylvain.” 

“Don’t worry, I do,” He winked at her. “But let’s leave the best for last.”

Ingrid sighed, already nervous at whatever he had planned, but decided to not push it further until he presented his character.

“I will go next then,” Dimitri volunteered. “I am also playing a paladin. However, he will be a human of noble bearing. His name is Demeter, and he...”

“I’m sorry, did you say Demeter? Don’t you think that is a tad too close to Dimitri?” Ingrid interrupted, biting her lip to contain her laughter. Sylvain responded by letting out a chuckle while Felix rolled his eyes at how dumb the blonde could be. Byleth herself felt a smile form on her lips as she watched the others react. 

“Well, I wanted to go simple on the creation. Though, I suppose I can change the name if you think it is too plain. I have not worked much on a background yet, as I wanted to familiarize myself with the setting first, but I will work on that before the next session.”

“Well, hopefully you’ve got some idea of what the world will be like, but if you have any questions you can call me anytime,” Said Byleth, unaware of how it made the boy blush. “Felix, would you like to share your character?

“Of course. My character is the greatest swordsman from a small village, and he’s constantly being pestered by an annoying, inferior fighter.” Felix glanced at Dimitri with the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. “He idolizes his older brother, and has a special power that only he can use. I’d like to flesh that power out more so that it isn’t game breaking, I thought maybe just a percent chance for increased damage would be good.”

“That’s not too bad. Do you have a name for your character yet? Also a race, and a more specific class?” Byleth waited with her notes out so she could keep track of the party’s members and adjust her campaign accordingly.

“Oh yeah, uhh… He’s a half-orc fighter named Sasuke.” Felix said in a low voice. Everyone stared, almost in disbelief. He quickly added, “I drew some inspiration for the character.”

“Drew some inspiration?” Sylvain could not hold down laughter at how obvious his friend was being with his inspiration.

“Felix, you created a character exactly like Sasuke because you were binging Naruto all summer, didn’t you?” Ingrid said as she struggled to not join the laughter, “The character isn’t bad, but surely you don’t mean to tell me you plan on keeping that name?”

“Perhaps a more serious character direction would help you? We could work on ours together, if you’d like.” Dimitri offered sincerely.

“Shut up. At least I didn’t make another stupid paladin” Felix muttered under his breath, both annoyed and embarrased. “I’ll fix the name later on my own. Let’s just move on.”

“Well Sylvain, it looks like you’re the only one left to introduce yourself.” Byleth said, happy that things were going so well. 

“Alright. I’ll be playing a drow elf sorcerer. Her name is Sylvia” he winks at Dimitri and Ingrid, who were both about to comment on the name. “She’s a very flirtatious sorcerer, one might call her a seductress. She’s absolutely stunning, a total knockout, and knows how to work it.” 

As he was speaking, the oven made a sound announcing it was ready for the pizzas. 

“Sounds like you all have a pretty good grasp on your characters so far. I’ll go put the pizzas in the oven, and we can talk about the world some more when I return.” Byleth stood up and left the room. 'So this is what having friends over is like.' A voice in her head seemed to say. Maybe she could get used to this.

After putting the pizza in the oven and setting the timer, Byleth headed back to the dining room, still in high spirits. When she walked in, her smile faltered, and it took her a moment to understand what was happening.

“Sylvain what is this? Where did you even… Actually no, I don’t want to know, but you can’t seriously mean to use this?” Ingrid was standing now, holding a picture up.

“Well, she’s SUPPOSED to be the most beautiful woman in the land. On top of that she’s a seductress. I don’t understand what the problem is.” 

“Now, Sylvain, I’m sure you can understand why Ingrid would be upset by this. Maybe you can choose a different picture? Not one that doesn’t fit your character, but maybe one with a bit more taste? I’m sure Ingrid could agree to that, right?” Dimitri said nervously, trying to pacify both his friends.

“Sylvain is just gonna do what he wants, don’t make such a big deal out of it. It’s not your character anyway, so why do you care?” Felix commented, disinterested at the squabble. 

“I can’t believe you would really think this is acceptable. You are absolutely disgusting.” Ingrid tore the picture in half and crumpled the pieces. 

Sylvain simply smiled and proceeded to pull out another copy of the same picture.

"Ugh why are you like this? Ok fine, that's it." Ingrid took out her phone and started to video call someone. As the phone rang, Byleth could see how Ingrid seemed to grow calmer. 

“Wait, are you seriously calling him?” 

"Yes, because you won't listen to anyone else." And then she made a motion for Sylvain to stay quiet.

After a few rings, someone who looked extremely like Felix showed up on Ingrid's screen. Byleth remembered being introduced to him during their graduation. 

"Hey Inni, missed me already?" the man on the screen teased her with a playful chuckle.

“Glenn!” Ingrid couldn’t hide the red color climbing her cheeks. “...Of course I did.”

“Don’t worry, I missed you too. So, what’s up? Aren’t you guys supposed to be having your first session right now?”

“We are, but can you please tell Sylvain to stop being a pig? The picture he’s trying to use for his character portrait is obscene.” Ingrid glared at Sylvain, who just put his hands behind his head as if he were doing nothing wrong. 

“Ok, well. How about this? Can you put me on a bigger screen? It’ll be easier for me to talk to everyone.” Glenn must have done something in the phone screen because Ingrid started to smile at her phone despite her frustration with the redhead. 

“I have a laptop that we can use. Let me go grab it.” Byleth said, unsure if the two even heard her, and started to make her way to her room where she kept the laptop. 

“Do you need any help? I can go with you.” Dimitri volunteered and started to get up after her. 

“Don’t go, Mitya. I need to tell you something.” Glenn said quickly before Dimitri followed her. 

As Byleth walked down the hallway, she wondered what he must have told Dimitri since she could hear laughing and screaming from where she was. It did not take long for Byleth to find her laptop and return to where everyone was. When she arrived in the room, Ingrid was smiling at her phone, Dimitri had buried his face in his hands, Sylvain was patting the blonde’s back, and Felix looked ready to snatch the phone from Ingrid’s hands. 

“What happened?” Byleth asked as she set up the computer in the opposite side of the table from where she was sitting. 

“Oh, nothing you should worry about.” Sylvain said with a grin while Dimitri just looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Ok?” She was even more curious now at what had happened when she was gone. “The laptop is here. Should someone sign in?”

“Just add me, I don't mind. I'll hang up here and call whenever I get your invite." Glenn responded, and the phone screen went blank. 

Sylvain quickly inputted his info in Byleth's account, and soon Byleth was receiving a call from @PaladinGlenn. 

"Well, this is definitely better to talk with everyone." Glenn said with a chuckle. "Alright, so first things first, Sylvain, if you annoy Ingrid too much, I'll have to kick your ass, so drop it before I need to change my plans for this weekend. Second, before I forget, Felix, mom told me to tell you that you need to call her as soon as you can. Third, I actually finished my character sheet the other day so I can actually introduce her now." 

"Wait you didn't tell me you finished." Ingrid was still smiling, but she seemed less enthusiastic than before.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. So Sylvain, please show them the character sheet."

"SYLVAIN HAS THE CHARACTER SHEET? Glenn I swear…" Ingrid grabbed the piece of paper from Sylvain's hands and started reading it. 

The others watched as her face slowly contorted as she read the character profile. By the time she put the paper back down, she had lost any will to stay calm through this night. Slamming the sheet back on the table, she screamed "WHY ARE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS? I expected Sylvain to be a pervert and Felix to half ass his. But this…this… I'm done. I'm going outside." Ingrid proceeded to storm out of the room before anyone could stop her. 

"Inni wait...dammit." Glenn tried to call her but she did not look back to the computer. 

"Hey, don't look at me. I warned you she wouldn't like that joke." 

"Shut the fuck up, you aren't helping." Glenn cut him off. Then with a sigh, he added, "I'm going to try talking to her. I'll talk to you guys later." And hung up.

As they were talking, Byleth took the time to skim through the character sheet. It was obviously a joke character meant to mirror Sylvain's, even down to the picture. 

"Umm should we get the pizzas then? They should be ready." She tried to break the tense mood now filling the room. 

Within a few minutes, Byleth was in the kitchen with the boys. As they ate, Sylvain kept trying to lighten the mood with stories from his travels, especially the various girls he claimed to have met. "Ok so this one I met in Derdriu." He said passing his phone around to show off whatever girl he was talking about now. "She was so fine. Like I swear guys I was in love the moment I laid eyes on her." 

“Sylvain, is there a reason you work so hard to get a rise out of Ingrid?” Sylvain turned a surprised face toward Felix, who was the voice of the question. “I know you’re just screwing around, which is well and good, but what are you going to do if you go too far and push her away? You know Glenn will be pissed right?” 

“I figured Dimitri would say something, but you too Felix? I mean, it may have gone a little too far, but it’s just a harmless joke in the end.”

“It’s really none of my concern. Just don’t fuck this up by being a dumbass. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m actually kinda looking forward to doing this with everyone. Anyway, if they’re gonna be a while, I have a phone call to make.” Felix stood up from the table, cheeks slightly red from blushing, and stepped out of the room to call his mother.

“Sorry we came in and made things such a mess, Byleth.” Dimitri said, staring at the pizza crusts on his plate. “I was really looking forward to this session. I hope we didn’t ruin it for you.” 

“Yeah, sorry Ingrid lost her cool-OW” Sylvain glared at Dimitri while rubbing his arm. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry, I got a little carried away with my joke. I’ll apologize to Ingrid when she gets back. And before you say it, I’ll tone back my character a bit.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Byleth smiled nervously. “I’ve never had friends over to begin with so this has been nice. I’m still really looking forward to playing with everyone. Sounds like it will be pretty interesting.”

“Awesome. Oh, Dimitri, would you mind letting me look at your character sheet? I can help you work out some of the details since it sounded like you were having a tough time getting started.” Sylvain then moved his chair a little closer so the two boys could look over Dimitri’s character together. 

After a few minutes, Felix came back into the kitchen. He looked less annoyed than he had earlier in the evening but still tried to stay away from Dimitri. 

“Hey there Felix. Want me to help you fix your character sheet? I’m just finishing up tossing some ideas with Dimitri.” Sylvain offered upon noticing his friend move next to him.

"I'll do it myself." 

“Is everything fine?” Dimitri looked worried as he asked him. 

“Yes, Boar.”

“You know you can tell us if anything is wrong.” 

“Look, I don’t need your concern.”

“Felix…” 

But before they could continue, they heard the front door open again. They went to the living room where Ingrid had entered, in a much better mood than she had left. She was still speaking into her phone as she made her way to them. “What time are you coming back this weekend?...Alright… Yes, I’ll tell them... Love you too...Good night.” 

She had a smile on her face when she reached them. “Ok so what did I miss?”

“Sylvain helped me fix my character background a bit, and Felix says he’ll work on his character by himself.” Dimitri said, glad to see she was no longer upset. 

“Well, Felix you’re in luck. Glenn offered to help fix your sheet when he’s home next weekend.” She then turned to Sylvain and added, “He also told me to tell you all to make sure not to be too rowdy for Byleth. We don’t want to make things hard for her.”

“Don’t worry about it! I’ve honestly enjoyed this. But we should probably wrap up soon, since it is getting late. Did anyone have any questions though before we’re done for the night?”

“Oh, I did have one question. Can I talk to you in private?” Ingrid asked, motioning for Byleth to follow her to the other side of the room, “Would you mind if I invite some other girls? These guys are my closest friends, but sometimes they are idiots. I just think it would help keep everyone in check so something like this doesn’t happen again.”

“Oh of course that’s fine! I don’t think I’ll be able to handle too many more people, but one or two should be fine.”

“That’s great! I already have someone in mind, and I think you’re really going to love her. She is one of those people it’s hard to not get along with. Maybe we can plan a girls’ night to introduce you to her! I’ll let you know when I’ve talked to her.”

The girls then headed back to the dining room, where the boys were almost finished cleaning up. 

“It seems like everyone is set for now, so I’m gonna head out. I really am sorry for earlier, I may have taken the joke too far.” Sylvain said when he saw them approaching. “By the way, Ingrid, your picture looks amazing. Where did you get it?”

“Oh, do you remember Ignatz? He sat next to me in English senior year. Well, I asked him to draw this for me when I came up with my character. Are you hoping he might draw you a real portrait?”

“Actually yeah, since obviously I need a real one now. Maybe you could introduce me to him. Do you think he’d be willing to do that?”

“I’ll talk to him later and get back to you. Can you send me an idea of what you actually want your character to look like though? I’m not going to show him your original plan.”

“Sure, I’ll send it to you later tonight. Anyway, I gotta get going, but it was a fun night! I’ll see you all later.” Sylvain flashed a smile, waved, and then left the house.

“Well, we should be going too. Are both of you ready?” Ingrid looked at Felix and Dimitri, who nodded.

“Well, thanks for hosting Byleth. I’ll have a more full character next time.” Felix and Ingrid walked outside, leaving the door open for Dimitri to follow.

“Um, thanks for doing this Byleth. Sorry things got so out of control...I promise we are usually not this quarrelsome.”

“It’s alright, Dimitri. I wasn't lying when I said I had fun.” Byleth smiled at Dimitri, who blushed and looked at the floor.

“I-I’ll call you if I have any questions! Maybe tomorrow… Will you be available?”

“Sure! Just call whenever you’re ready and I’ll help out. I’ll talk to you then!” As Dimitri left, he almost bumped into Jeralt, who had just arrived home. Jeralt looked at the boy for a moment, and then entered the house closing the door behind him. Byleth giggled and went to the kitchen to clean up their dinner.

“Hey kid, how was your night? Did you get the pizzas cooked okay?” Jeralt followed her to the kitchen and started to eat the last slice of pizza.

“Everything went pretty well. I’m excited to see everyone again. At first I was nervous, but they’re all so nice. I can tell they care a lot for each other.” Byleth looked into the dining room, where her notes were still out and smiled.

“Well that’s great. If that blonde kid starts to care too much for you I may have to have a talk with him though.” Jeralt chuckled and winked at his daughter. “I’m happy you had a good time though. I think things will work out just fine here.”

“Yeah, I think they will dad. I’m happy we moved here after all.”


End file.
